Yes, you're absolutely right. Unlike small independent labels, major labels have equity interests in Spotify, so they make money even when (and especially when) royalties from streaming are miniscule. Streaming is lucrative for them, and they are making it partially off the backs of independent labels. I don't consider it ethical to support that business model, so I avoid Spotify.

Too much to choice from is not always a good thing and we live in a world that succeeds by maximizing the amount of options. Less is more or more is simply more and better.

Yes, I agree! Too much choice can be paralyzing. Try choosing from 30+ brands at your your local supermarket.

I realized I am part of a shrinking demographic, but I still buy physical CDs and buy digital releases via Bandcamp, too, since I am space-limited. The only streaming I do is the occasional track on YouTube and occasional streaming through Amazon Prime. Streaming has had a largely negative impact on what artists can expect to realize from their releases (if you pay licensing fees art for your cover and have your releases professionally mastered. you can forget about even breaking even!), as micropennies for each stream do not offset the dollars and cents returns on CD sales.

I dont think it was an arguing over the positive or the negative, but about the tone / accent.

Yes, absolutely. And I don't think anyone but Tardigrade raised the issue of a ban. I think the tone of his posts was hostile and insulting. There's enough toxicity going around politically right now. The last place we need that is in a forum for ambient music. I also agree with cvac that if Tardigrade feels free to dish it out, he should be willing to take it, too, and be called out when he steps over the line.

This is the art of listening, its about listening, about the experience and the creation of sonic art in the heart mind of this listener.

Hi Julio, I watched the first piece on the video. It is interesting, but a bit romanticized and it only captures part of the process--the recording. I think that the preproduction/postproduction, as unglamorous as it may be, can be just as important, especially when studio effects are an integral part of the atmosphere of the overall piece and when a piece is as through-composed as this one was. The video also captures a piece primarily as a performance. My pieces generally are not realized as single real-time performances, because of the layering of different instruments and sonic processing that I back into what I've already recorded. Sometimes I use sonic bits that were recorded years apart. I wasn't even sure that the melody in the video originated from the Korg MS-20 that he appeared to be playing. I have one, and I don't think they sound that crisp, even with digital reverb. My experience has been that a lot of the creative process can be uninteresting to watch, especially the parts showing frustration when a bit doesn't work. Maybe it was just the slickness of the video that irritated me a bit.

Kind of an ambiguous premise. Live and recorded music are really created for different settings and experiences, so is the film about that or about how the listener can or should approach music in general?

As a longtime listener, I enjoy listening to music the old-school way, preferably sitting down and wedged between some nice speakers or with decent phones. But I'm not sure there's a right or wrong way to listen, as long as it does something for you. My mindset for creating music is a completely different thing. I'm usually between trying to preserve the moment and trying to realize something that's either in my head or sketched out beforehand, but I'm not thinking out whether my potential listeners are going to be hearing the piece at home or on the train.

I've been a little delinquent in posting to the forum lately, but wanted to let you that my new one ("Following the Ether Sun") is now available in CD form directly from Projekt and in digital form from Bandcamp. It will become available from iTunes, Amazon and other music retailers on February 15.

I've been enjoying your collab with Julio this past week. I think the edginess of Julio's modular sounds compliment the softer palate you use very nicely. Yes, there are occasional Eno/Budd reference points, but I don't see that as a bad thing, since your distinctive style and Julio's unique timbres come through. Congrats to you and Julio for such a nice release!